Barge, Hermann (1870-1941)

Hermann Barge (1870-1941), a professor at the university of Leipzig, historian, was author of the excellent work, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt (Leipzig, 1906), which throws much light on the relations and contacts of Karlstadt with the Anabaptists, making it very valuable for the student of Mennonite beginnings. In other publications, as in the Münchener Allgemeinen Zeitung (10 August 1900), in an article on "Sozialethische Strömungen des angehenden Mittelalters," he spoke appreciatively of the research of Ludwig Keller, and expressed a very favorable opinion of the old-evangelical church movement. The same attitude was seen in his discussion of Karl Rembert's book, Die "Wiedertäufer" im Herzogtum Jülich. In Studium Lipsiense (published in honor of Karl Lamprecht, Berlin, 1909), his article, "Der Streit über die Grundlagen der religiösen Erneuerung in der Kontroverse zwischen Luther und Karlstadt, 1524-1525," disclosed his fundamental attitude toward research in church history, in which his verdict on A. Ritschl as a historian seemed especially important. These writings revealed Barge as one of the modern scholars who approached the history of the Anabaptists with a benevolent, friendly interest and understanding. Another of Barge's important books was Frühprotestantisches Gemeindechristentum in Wittenberg und Orlamünde (1909). Barge's works stirred up violent controversy on the part of historians of the Protestant church and of secular history. The literary conflict assumed unpleasant forms. The most important and sharpest of Barge's critics was Karl Müller, professor of Protestant church history at Tübingen, who was, by the way, also a quiet friend of the Mennonites, though he does not express this position as definitely as Ernst Troeltsch. Walther Köhler wrote an analysis of this polemic literature with his own position on the matter in Göttinger Gelehrten Anzeigen, 1912.